# How young is "young"?



## mi000ke (Feb 8, 2014)

Made my first CC purchase and now the proud owner of a box of PSD4s and Boli belis. The box date is April 14 on both. I assume that means they are at least 10 months old. There is a lot of discussion here about smoking young CCs, and I know that CCs generally improve with aging a few years, but would these be considered "young"? What time frame/age do you usually have in mind when you describe a CC as young?


----------



## asmartbull (Aug 16, 2009)

Yes.....I am sure a few more guys will jump in here, but.......I still believe most Habanos hit their stride in 5 yrs


----------



## thebigk (Jan 16, 2013)

Yes they are young and the benchmark to call cigar aged is fun be years as Al said 

Both PSD4 and BBF will age wonderfully


----------



## LGHT (Oct 12, 2009)

asmartbull said:


> Yes.....I am sure a few more guys will jump in here, but.......I still believe most Habanos hit their stride in 5 yrs


Agreed. I typically sit on all my boxes for minimum of 2 years, and prefer most 6-8 with a sweet spot between 10-12 for a select few like BBF's.


----------



## protekk (Oct 18, 2010)

for me, as many others have stated young is less than 5 years. They will get better as time goes on but if I were you I would acclimate your current purchases to your desired RH and then smoke em up


----------



## mi000ke (Feb 8, 2014)

protekk said:


> for me, as many others have stated young is less than 5 years. They will get better as time goes on but if I were you I would acclimate your current purchases to your desired RH and then smoke em up


Yeah, would be hard to wait 5 years to sample a few, but sounds like I need to lay most of them away and just keep buying more so I have a few for now and lots more for later.


----------



## JustinThyme (Jun 17, 2013)

Let them acclimate then smoke em up. There are a lot of sticks doing quite well young. I have a boatload of young sticks that will eventually get some age on them.


----------



## TonyBrooklyn (Jan 28, 2010)

mi000ke said:


> Made my first CC purchase and now the proud owner of a box of PSD4s and Boli belis. The box date is April 14 on both. I assume that means they are at least 10 months old. There is a lot of discussion here about smoking young CCs, and I know that CCs generally improve with aging a few years, but would these be considered "young"? What time frame/age do you usually have in mind when you describe a CC as young?


For me personally anything with a year or less i consider young. How long one chooses to age is a personal preference IMHO.


----------



## Flapjack23 (Jan 18, 2012)

Under 1 year is young and once they hit 5 they are "aged" IMO. Most of my cigars are in between somewhere. The secret is to buy more than you smoke and keep buying...eventually you will have cigars with age on them.


----------



## StogieNinja (Jul 29, 2009)

For me, anything less than two years is "young" but different guys have different opinions on that. Some guys feel anything less than 5 years is still "young" and others like Andy above are more in the "first year" catagory.

Honestly, the PSD4 are ready for you to smoke. They won't have that "aged" flavor, but rumor is that Cuba has been aging their tobacc prior to rolling, which means that the old "never smoke until they're 5 years old" rule is out the window. A LOT of the cigars I smoked last year from '13 and '14 smoked very well. I'd try one and see what you think. If they're not great cigars, let them rest a while longer. If you love 'em, smoke away! When you get down to a fiver, put them down for a nap so you can revisit later and see how they age.

The Bolis are probably ok to smoke now as well, though I'd personally smoke one to gauge, and you may want to give them a little more time as Boli BBFs tend to really benefit from some downtime.

What you'll discover is that if you're used to NCs, you'll enjoy CCs even when they only have a year or so on them. It may take a little while for you to gain an appreciation for the aged stuff. I've been smoking CCs for going on five years now, and I enjoyed quite a few cigars with '13 and '14 box codes last year.


----------



## Jordan23 (May 25, 2012)

A lot of what has been said is spot on to me.

For me young is under 2 years. 

Aged over 5 years.

When you smoke is based on your taste, imo.


----------



## JohnnyFlake (May 31, 2006)

There is a rule of thumb that many old time Habano Smokers believe in and follow religiously.

Smoke them from the date of birth and until they are one year old. During that young period, they are a totally different cigar than they will be in a few years.

When they reach one year of age, let them rest, untouched, for for a minimum of two years.

A lot of the old ways, have been lost during the last 20 years, with so many new Habano Cigar Smokers.


----------



## TonyBrooklyn (Jan 28, 2010)

John makes some great points in his post.


----------



## fattaman (Jun 1, 2014)

JohnnyFlake said:


> There is a rule of thumb that many old time Habano Smokers believe in and follow religiously.
> 
> Smoke them from the date of birth and until they are one year old. During that young period, they are a totally different cigar than they will be in a few years.
> 
> ...


Great info John! Thanks.


----------



## mi000ke (Feb 8, 2014)

JohnnyFlake said:


> There is a rule of thumb that many old time Habano Smokers believe in and follow religiously.
> 
> Smoke them from the date of birth and until they are one year old. During that young period, they are a totally different cigar than they will be in a few years.
> 
> ...


Perfect, thanks!


----------



## Cigar Guru (Dec 22, 2012)

Depends on how they were stored before. I airtight. Young could be as long as 2 years, and taste Fresh. After that they start to taste funny and continue to do so until about 5 years or so. Then they start to improve. So far mine taste fantastic after about 8 yrs of Airtight aging. If my friend from HK is correct, they will continue to improve as long as I do not expose them to air frequently. You'll want to keep the aroma and oils inside the airtight container.

How long before they start to go downhill? I dunno yet. We'll see.


----------



## LutzSpearo (Jun 23, 2013)

Great info here, glad I checked this out. Most of mine are 2-3 y/o, and I'm trying to find the right order rate and amount to get me to the point where I have a smoke able stash of 5 y/o smokes at all times. I smoke everyday so it's a challenging task, almost a bit stressful! I need to take some if the advice here, and just enjoy them (while ordering more than I smoke).


----------

